New York Knicks roll past Cleveland Cavaliers

CLEVELAND -- Despite a depleted frontcourt, the New York Knicks stood tall on Friday.

Their guard-oriented lineup shredded the Cavaliers, 101-91, before 19,430 at Quicken Loans Arena.

Forward Carmelo Anthony and swingman J.R. Smith each had 31 points in the easy victory.

Advertisement

"They have two guys who are very special," Cavs coach Byron Scott said. "Both of those guys are playing great basketball.

"J.R. was fantastic. He hit everything he shot."

Anthony, the league's leading scorer, had 31 points and a game-high 14 rebounds for the Knicks (52-27), who have won 14 of their last 15 games. He converted 12 of 24 attempts from the field and didn't play in the fourth quarter.

Smith, a candidate for Sixth Man of the Year, matched Anthony's point total and added five rebounds. He made 13 of 16 shots from the field, including his last 12.

"They are one of the toughest teams in the league," Cavs guard Kyrie Irving said. "We were able to contest some shots and they were still making them. With a team like that, when they go five guards deep, they mess with our rotations."

The Cavs (24-55) were paced by Irving's 31 points, five rebounds and six assists. He made 11 of a career-high 27 attempts from the field. He was three of a career-high 10 shots from behind the arc.

"I tried to come out aggressive," Scott said. "We wanted to push it. Going forward, we have to pay attention to our game plan. We wanted to push it. They're last in the league in transition defense. The opportunities were there. We just didn't take advantage of them."

Scott said someone had to score. They shot just 43 percent from the field, and 27.3 percent from behind the arc.

"He had a couple (shots) that he rushed," Scott said.

Irving said his shot felt good all night.

"I got good looks," he said. "Some fell and some didn't."

The Knicks were playing without starting center Tyson Chandler and valuable reserve big men Marcus Camby, Kenyon Martin and Rasheed Wallace. Still, they were very competitive on the boards and were outrebounded by a slim 46-44 margin.

Their tallest starters were Chris Copeland and Carmelo Anthony, who are both 6-foot-8.

On a night the Cavs might have wanted to take advantage of Tyler Zeller's 7-foot frame, he was no factor whatsoever. The rookie center was scoreless on three shots from the field. Two of his attempts were from the perimeter.

Scott said Zeller had a tough nigh offensively and defensively. In the pre-game strategy session, coaches told Zeller the Knicks were going to switch almost everything on defense.

"He was never able to get himself in the game tonight," Scott said. "The biggest thing is he's not comfortable down there yet. That's something we have to work on in the summer."

Zeller said he never took advantage of the mismatches.

"My mindset had to change. I didn't figure it out until the end," he said. "Normally when I'm playing, we have bigs who (get) down the floor, and it's a lot easier to pop in that situation. But I should have rolled."

Cavs power forward Tristan Thompson was effective on the low post. He added 15 points and 11 rebounds for his 29th double-double of the season. Wayne Ellington added 13 points and five assists, while Alonzo Gee had 12 points and six rebounds.

The Cavs have lost three in a row.

"That was our intention (to get off to a fast start)," Anthony said. "Guys being fatigued and tired, we had to push ourselves, get some momentum and get some energy from somewhere. We just tried to get the game over with quickly."